VC Vani Kola's success mantra: Don't kill your competition

Different companies have different strategies when it comes to competition. But the one approach that never worked for Kalaari Capital MD Vani Kola was making it personal. According to Kola, it is important to figure out what an entrepreneur’s frame-work of language is going to be.

“When starting a business in the US, the language of ‘kill your competition’ didn’t work for me,” she said at a FalconX incubation accelerator event recently. “For instance, one of our most important competitors made a presentation at a conference. I went to the CEO and said, ‘Hey that’s really fantastic’. And since then we have been friends. I don’t think I have to personalise competition between people.”

The way to approach competition, she said, was to focus on what your company does better and identifying customers who will be the right fit for you.

Kola shared her tips to have healthy competition.

1. Constantly monitoring competition and reacting to it can be detrimental to a company in the long run.“Your company’s strategy can’t be every week, every quarter, driven by what your competition is doing,” she said. “Many times entrepreneurs say, ‘If they are on a price war and this is not going to sustain in the market, then let’s figure out how to outlast’.

In India especially, in the context of consumer companies, this is very important because you can drive yourself down to ground if you are trying to outgrow the market or undercut a product’s price. In the long run, you need to be smart, insightful and self-reflective.”

2. Benguluru-based Kola said many people tend to skirt around the question of competition. Often, while hearing pitches, budding entrepreneurs claim that they have no competition. This, she said, makes her wonder whether there is a market for such an idea. “So, it’s important not to downplay competition,” she advised.

3. Lastly, be realistic even if it means losing some-thing you started. Giving her own example, Kola said that while her company’s product was appreciated and awarded, she realised she would remain No 2 in the market. So, she decided to sell the company.

“Knowing where you are, how far you can take the company, when to take the risk to continue to build the business and the risk to exit, that story plays out not just one time or with one product, but it plays out all the time. And you have to make those choices,” she said.